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Topic Review (Newest First)

07-31-2013 01:02 AM

TakeFive

Re: New Catalina Pricing

I'm not sure where you're located, but I think that some of the Catalina Dealers in New Jersey and Maryland are all owned by the same family. So be careful when you go to another dealer - you may be dealing with the same people.

Since the 1970s there have been federal regulations preventing manufacturers from fixing their dealers' prices. There's a reason they call it Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price. If the dealers are not budging on price it's probably because they have insufficient margin to allow for it, especially if you're buying a stripped-down boat with few extras. As others said, they probably have fatter margins on the add-ons, and that's where you could negotiate a better deal.

I am not sure about the territorial exclusivity of dealers as you describe it. I would think that there would be antitrust issues with that. A free marketplace means that dealers need to compete with each other for your business, so you should be able to pick without having to justify it. Just be prepared to take your boat a long distance if you need warranty service.

07-30-2013 09:27 PM

miatapaul

Re: New Catalina Pricing

Seems best price will be at boat shows as they have special manufacturer discounts as you can go over to the next dock and talk to Hunter.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 4 Beta

07-30-2013 08:44 PM

capttb

Re: New Catalina Pricing

There's a Catalina dealer in many of the harbors between San Diego and San Francisco so the concept of any one of them having a lock on me as a customer would be a complete impossibility here. Why would they care where you live or want to take delivery from ? If I lived in Iowa would I be forced to buy from the dealer there instead of Florida ?
Unlike a Ford, you can no longer buy a Catalina from "dealer stock" you have to order it from the "factory". Also as mentioned, the dealer margin is rather slim, they hope to make it up at the "concession stand". At a recent boat show the dealers had 2 new boats showing, a 355 which the "new owner" allowed them to borrow, the other a 385 that hadn't been delivered to owner yet.

07-30-2013 07:39 PM

miatapaul

Re: New Catalina Pricing

My understanding is that the dealers have very little margin in the sale of the physical boat, but make there money in the outfitting. I would imagine that Catalina will only allow so much discount as well. They make more off of the electronics packages, locally installed options like AC, generators, bigger winches, sails and what not. Seems that is where you can save some money.

With all the deals on used boats, why buy new, especially if you are not happy with your local dealer, as he will likely be the one to do any warranty work anyway, and you are already not happy with the quality of service they give. You can often move up a step in quality by going used. I personally would not want to take the big hit on that first few years of depreciation. After all boats last 50+ years, it's not like a car where it is much more reliable the first 4 or 5 years. Sounds like you had issues that were caused by Catalina, not by the dealer but they were unable to fix to your satisfaction.

07-30-2013 06:21 PM

jimrafford

Re: New Catalina Pricing

Why would you buy another Catalina!
Jim

07-30-2013 06:09 PM

Siamese

Re: New Catalina Pricing

Not everything is negotiable, which is why I'm asking specifically about Catalina.

Peavey guitar and amplifier dealerships used to be very much in demand by music retailers, because Peavey fixed the selling prices, and would terminate any dealer that varied from their pricing. Gibson and Fender was generally discounted to 30 to 40 percent, but dealer knew they'd make money on Peavey.

Given that Catalina will require a buyer to get permission to buy from another dealer suggests to me that there's a lot of protection going on, and I want to know if it extends to selling price.

As an aside, I could tell you a dozen dumb things my dealer did on my Catalina 309. Here's one:
My boat developed a LOT of gelcoat cracks in the first season. After months of letters, phone calls, and photos direct to Frank Butler of Catalina, he finally authorized my dealer to make repairs. The dealer sent their best man to do the repairs. He showed up with a stick and some sort of epoxy or putty goop, and began applying it directly to the hairline cracks, which averaged 12 inches in length. The goop trail was about 3/8" wide and about 1/16" high. Then he let the goop dry. Done! Seriously. He never ground open the cracks, and never sanded and polished the repairs. He had a maze of what looked like a mole infestation on my decks. I kicked him off my boat and started calling Frank Butler again.

And that's typical of several things this bozo dealer did. So, yeah, I'm going to have to hold my to do business with this idiot again.

07-30-2013 06:04 PM

Siamese

Re: New Catalina Pricing

Not everything is negotiable, which is why I'm asking specifically about Catalina.

Peavey guitar and amplifier dealerships used to be very much in demand by music retailers, because Peavey fixed the selling prices, and would terminate any dealer that varied from their pricing. Gibson and Fender was generally discounted to 30 to 40 percent, but dealer knew they'd make money on Peavey.

Given that Catalina will require a buyer to get permission to buy from another dealer suggests to me that there's a lot of protection going on, and I want to know if it extends to selling price.

As an aside, I could tell you a dozen dumb things my dealer did on my Catalina 309. Here's one:
My boat developed a LOT of gelcoat cracks in the first season. After months of letters, phone calls, and photos direct to Frank Butler of Catalina, he finally authorized my dealer to make repairs. The dealer sent their best man to do the repairs. He showed up with a stick and some sort of epoxy or putty goop, and began applying it directly to the hairline cracks, which averaged 12 inches in length. The goop trail was about 3/8" wide and about 1/16" high. Then he let the goop dry. Done! Seriously. He never ground open the cracks, and never sanded and polished the repairs. He had a maze of what looked like a mole infestation on my decks. I kicked him off my boat and started calling Frank Butler again.

And that's typical of several things this bozo dealer did. So, yeah, I'm going to have to hold my to do business with this idiot again.

07-30-2013 04:36 PM

chuck53

Re: New Catalina Pricing

Manufacturers often have different pricing structures. THe industry I spent 25 years in, some mfg's only gave dealers 10% off suggested retail and some went as high as 40-50% off suggested retail. So you can't assume you can always negotiate a set discount.

You mentioned getting a big discount on Fords. I've alway found that the Big 3 (US) auto makers have always given bigger discounts to the dealers allowing them more wiggle room to negotiate where the same was not true with many foreign car manufacturers.
So you might easily get 15% off a Ford/Chevy but you would be hard pressed to get 10% off a Honda/Toyota.

07-30-2013 04:23 PM

FlyingJunior

New Catalina Pricing

To assume the dealer has room to negotiate is to assume one knows his margins and cost structure. Do you have that intel ? You are free to try to negotiate, they are free to engage or not. Do you have reason to think he does NOT service well after the sale, etc.? IME, a premium outfit that serves well is due higher pricing than a fly by night unknown. Some people just try to beat people up on price no matter the situation, and get angry when they don't "win".

07-30-2013 10:49 AM

kd3pc

Re: New Catalina Pricing

S

everything is negotiable, the question is at what cost to you the consumer. SOunds like your local dealer has been selling with no profit to his operation...thus the can't do anything without screwing things up relationship.

Similarly in my area, a great dealer in Deltaville went belly up after only three years....again not enough profit in it for him to do correct warranty/service work.

That being said, there is likely single digit (0-9%) margins to the dealer on a $100K boat..if he runs a decent shop.

YMMV

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